Standing in the Starlight
by Leslie Smith
Summary: "My name is Marie Morgan and I am completely unextraordinary. My life is normal, or at least it was. Because even a child knows that life with the Doctor changes you. You can't go back to who you were before you met the Doctor. And with me, that was for the best. When I met the Doctor, I ran from my previous life. And I've been running ever since."


**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. All rights go to the BBC. Episode transcript for Smith and Jones was received for free on the BBC website. **

**Story Summary: **"My name is Marie Morgan and I am completely unextraordinary. Everything about me is unextraordinary. My life is normal. Or, at least it was. Because even a child knows that life with the Doctor changes you. You can't ever really go back to who you were before you met the Doctor. And with me, that was for the best. When I met the Doctor, I ran from my previous life. I ran from the normal, the boring, the sane. And I've been running ever since."

**Chapter Word Count: **13,258

**Date Published: **11/2/14

* * *

><p><strong>Smith, Jones and Morgan<strong>

_**"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all." -Helen Keller**_

Marie was walking through the crowded city at a slow pace, a small and lazy looking smile on her pale pink lips. She absolutely loved the city. There was just always so much to _see_. Business people talking urgently into cell phones, students balancing slipping papers and notebooks in one hand and a coffee in the other, parents holding their wide eyed and pink cheeked children by the hand, and then the people like her, just strolling about the city in absolutely no rush. Something about simply watching other people go about their daily business calmed her.

But today she didn't have the time to sit on the nearest bench and observe. She had already promised Martha, her best friend, that she would drop by the hospital she worked at to give her some clothes to borrow for her brother's 21st birthday party that night and then take her out to lunch so she wouldn't have to eat hospital food. And it was nearing noon already, so she should really step out of her leisurely pace and walk like a normal person if she wanted to make it on time, even if she was only a block away from the hospital.

She was abruptly jolted out of her musings when she felt a tap on the shoulder. Whirling around, Marie's bright, expressive blue eyes met the excited chocolate brown eyes of a very strange man. He was wearing a brown pinstriped suit and tie paired with a tan trench coat that billowed in the wind, and his hair seemed to stick up in every direction. He beamed at her as though they weren't complete strangers, and Marie couldn't help but smile back.

"Marie Morgan, you have had one hell of a day," the strange man declared, still grinning madly from ear to ear before he frowned in confusion, ruffling his spiky hair. "No, wait, sorry, that's wrong. You _will_ have one hell of a day. I suppose I understand what you meant now, though, so that's something…"

Marie's eyebrows knit together as she eyed the man critically. "Sorry, I'm not sure I know you."

The man simply scoffed and waved away her statement. "Of course you don't yet. This is becoming far too complicated, you know. I was only supposed to pop in and prove it…" Marie laughed a little at this man's blatant madness. He smirked cheekily at her amusement.

"It was nice to meet you, sir, but I really do have to get going." The black haired woman said, albeit a bit reluctantly. She wanted to talk more with this strange man.

"Oh, yes, of course. I'll see you soon, then." He winked at Marie before jogging slowly away.

"I'm looking forward to it," Marie called after him, grinning.

He turned around for a moment to click his teeth together and smirk at her. "Oh, yes!" he replied, then returned to jogging back to wherever he needed to be. Why he was jogging in a suit was beyond her, but the coat did look rather cool swishing around his long legs as he ran.

Marie laughed once and shook her head at him before walking at a quicker pace to the Royal Hope Hospital. Once the building was in sight, the woman peeked down at her wrist to check her watch, and almost immediately bumped into someone. She looked up, the apology dying on her lips as she noticed it was a man dressed exclusively in leather and his face completely covered by a tinted motor bike helmet and he was already walking away from her.

She frowned, but shrugged it off as she took the stairs up to the break room where she knew Martha would be at this point. Marie couldn't wait to tell her all about her encounter with the strange man on the street earlier.

It took her only a minute before she was close enough to hear Martha on the phone talking animatedly on the phone, and a few moments more before she could see her and another medical student, Julia Swales, making a pot of coffee.

"Tish, honestly. We can't just _uninvite _her to this party. That would be like uninviting dad. Besides, it's Leo's birthday anyway…" Martha said, attempting yet again to placate a member of her family. Marie was always very impressed with Martha's ability to be the peacemaker for her entire family and still remain calm. With the way her family is, Marie would have gone bonkers.

Marie quickly plucked the phone from Martha's hand and pressed it to her ear. "Or, we could tell Annalise that buffet is 100% carbohydrate, and then she wouldn't show up!"

Martha grinned at her best friend's antics and waved hello as she took her free hand opportunity to put the kettle on.

"Hi, Marie! You're still coming tonight, right?" Tish said over the phone. Even though Marie was primarily friends with Martha, the entire Jones family had taken a liking to the short girl after meeting her. Tish was just as much of a sister to her as Martha was.

"Yes, of course. In fact, I was coming here to convince Martha to come to my flat after work so I could put some make up on her that would look absolutely smashing with the clothes I picked out for her. And also to take her out of the hospital for lunch because eating here all of the time is really starting to bum me out, not to mention throw my taste buds out of whack."

Martha groaned from the kitchen and sent a mock glare to the pale girl, who simply smiled sweetly in response. "Good. Hey, don't leave to go out to eat yet, because I'm on my way. Oh, and could you put Martha back on the line please?"

"Absolutely. See you in a few, Tish."

"See you."

Marie handed the phone back over to Martha who motioned her to take her spot at the kettle putting the tea bags in as she put the phone back up to her ear. The woman smiled eagerly at Swales, even though the two had only met once or twice, and was opening her mouth to strike up a conversation when Martha walked over to the window and began to scoff.

"What, in this weather? We're not going out, it's pouring down."

Marie's head snapped up quickly as she walked over to the window herself to examine the storm that was raging outside. It was only then she noticed the sounds of rain hitting the building. "Strange…" She murmured, making Martha glance her way. "There wasn't a cloud in sight when I was walking over here just a few minutes ago."

Martha frowned in confusion and listened intently to the other line on the phone, probably Tish confirming that it was completely clear out just a moment ago. "Well, we're definitely staying in then. So much for no more hospital food, eh, Marie?"

Marie nodded absently at Martha, but her attention was on the strange rain.

"Yeah, but anyway, I've got a plan. This is what we do…" Martha's voice trailed off for a few moments, but Marie was far too distracted to see what had distracted her best friend. "We tell Dad and Annalise to get there early, about seven thirty, and we get Leo there at the same time so we can do all that birthday stuff, but we tell Mum to get there for about eight thirty, nine, and that gives me time to have a word with Annalise, and maybe I could tell her... Marie, you've been staring at that rain for two minutes now. What is wrong?"

"The, uh, rain…" Marie responded, her eyes widening and her heart starting to beat rapidly in her chest, but her gaze still focused outside.

"It's only rain." Martha dismissed, listening to Tish again before snapping, "Why is everyone fussing about the rain? Marie is over here in her comatose science state. I'm starting to think I'll need to get the paddles…"

"Martha, the rain is going up." The pale said, and was joined at the window by a gob smacked Swales and Martha immediately.

Before any of the three could comment on the rain, bright flashes of lightning filled the room. Marie barely had time to shield her eyes when what felt like an earthquake hit, thrashing the building and its occupants everywhere. Screams echoed distantly throughout the hospital as Marie grabbed on to the door to steady herself, and grabbing Martha's arm with her free hand to ensure her friend's safety.

And just as quickly as it began, it was over. The rain had stopped, the ground was steady, and the lightning had ceased. Silence filled the room for a few minutes before Martha spoke softly.

"What the hell was that?"

"Martha Jones, watch your bloody language," Marie responded immediately, bringing a slight smile (and an eye roll) out of the other girl. Swales, it appeared, was not amused by Marie's attempt to lighten the mood.

"Are you alright?" The other medical trainee asked, more towards her fellow student than to the pale engineer.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Marie got me steady after the first shock… Are you two okay?" Martha said, helping the two women to their feet and brushing off the bits of broken items that fell all around the room during the quake.

"Fine, yeah… But we have another problem." Marie stated, pointing outside where it was pitch black.

"But… It was lunch time… How can it be night?" Swales responded feebly.

"It's not night." Martha and Marie replied simultaneously.

"But it's got to be, it's dark." Swales insisted. Marie simply ignored her and walked closer to the window, followed by Martha.

"We're on the moon," The blue eyed woman stated bluntly, looking out onto the rocky surface, too stunned to think properly. That state of mind only lasted for a second before her scientific mind took over. "Come with me."

Without pause, she grabbed Martha's hand and Swales' wrist (neither of the women appreciated the contact, but Marie couldn't bring herself to care), dragging them to the nearest window only to see the moon staring back at her once more. In the back of her mind, Marie could hear people screaming and crying for help – one of those people being Swales, thankfully not Martha – but she paid them no mind. She had to get to the bottom of this.

Marie pushed past multiple different patients and staff in various states of hysteria before being stopped by Martha ceasing to run with her. Impatiently, she tugged on Martha's hand, silently insisting that they hurry while her best friend attempted to speak to an older woman, presumably a patient. Marie wasn't heartless by any means, the old woman's concerns were surely important, but she did want to hurry up so she could do some more investigating.

The three made it to another window which was unfortunately in a patient area, but Martha must have ordered the patients back to bed because they all left to their respective areas.

"It's real, it's really... real," Martha breathed out in awe as she stood beside Marie in front of a window. "Hold on…"

Martha's hand reached somewhat hesitantly to the window, but was caught by the shaking hands of Julia Swales. "Don't," she sobbed, "We'll lose all the air."

Marie rolled her eyes. This woman was getting a little ridiculous now. "Swales, I'm sure you're a nice person and an adequate medical student and all, but you're not focusing on reason here. We would have lost the air already if we were going to lose it at all. The real question is how is there oxygen in space?"

"_Very_ good question! Brilliant, in fact." A voice startled out of her rant, causing her to flip around in confusion. Standing before her in a different suit and with much more tame hair and with no trench coat was the mad man from earlier. "What's your name?"

Marie stared at the man before frowning. _He must really be mad_, she thought. _When I was calling him mad, I meant eccentric. He seemed to know me before, he even knew my name... And why am I not freaking out about the fact that he knew my name?_

"Marie Morgan." She stated, still eyeing him with a confused look on her face.

The man narrowed his eyes at her staring before groaning and running his fingers through his hair before resting his hand on his neck. "Don't tell me I met you before, too. Blimey, this is getting complicated."

Marie nodded. "Yeah, that's what you said before."

He sighed and looked her up and down once appraisingly before turning to Martha and Swales. "And it was Jones, wasn't it?"

"Martha," she confirmed.

"Right. Martha Jones, your friend is asking the right question. How are we still breathing?"

"We can't be," Swales insisted, still sobbing. Marie rolled her eyes. Even Martha's usual calm and pleasant behavior was beginning to crack under Swales' incessant crying.

"But obviously, we are, so don't waste my time." The mad man was also clearly finished dealing with the hysterical girl. "Martha, Marie, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a verandah, or..?"

"By the patient's lounge, yeah." Martha responded.

"Fancy going out?" He asked, glancing between the two best friends.

"Okay," Martha replied slowly.

The mad man raised an eyebrow. "We might die," he reminded her.

"We might not," Marie countered.

"Good!" He beamed again, that same smile as before. "Come on – But not the crying one, she'd hold us up." He said before taking off running, closely followed by Marie and Martha.

_Blimey, he sure does like running around in suits, doesn't he?_

The quick pace slowed down to a slower, more cautious walk as the three stopped at the French doors leading to the verandah. The mad man placed his hand on the door, glancing at the two women next to him and taking a deep breath before opening the door.

Marie tensed, expecting all of the oxygen that she had sucked in to be ripped out of her and for her friend and the mad man to follow her into space where they would die in moments.

Needless to say, the engineer was never more happy to be wrong.

The three all let out exhales before stepping outside. Martha looked around, incredulous, while Marie stepped further so that she was pressed up against the railing. She had never seen anything more beautiful. Sure, she had stepped outside on nights when her insomnia was hitting her hard and stared up at the moon or watched the sun rise, but actually seeing the moon right in front of her… It was nothing she would ever forget.

"We've got air," Martha said, only stating the obvious from her state of shock. "How does that work?"

"Just be glad it does," the mad man stated. Marie wondered idly when she would be able to stop referring to him as the mad man and when she would learn his name.

"We've got a party tonight," Martha nearly whispered after a moment of silence. "Our brother's 21st. Actually, my brother, but Marie's basically family anyway…"

Marie walked over to her best friend and put a comforting arm around her. The man looked on with sympathy, and a hint of sadness.

"God, mum's gonna be…" Martha's voice trailed off as her voice cracked. Marie frowned, pulling the girl closer to her in a half-hug before letting her go.

The mad man paused. "You okay?" His eyes flickered between the two best friends.

"Yeah." Martha replied, obviously pulling herself together as to not worry others. Marie wondered, not for the first time, if the medical student had ever done anything for herself.

"Sure?" he repeated, looking dubiously at the woman who had been so close to tears a few seconds ago.

"Yeah," Martha said, with more conviction this time.

"Do you want to go back in?" The mad man asked carefully, looking more at Marie, who hadn't said a word since taking the first few steps on the moon.

"No way," Martha answered for her, "Because we could die any minute, but all the same…"

"It's beautiful," Marie whispered, unable to keep her awe in any longer.

The mad man looked at her interestedly, seemingly excited that she was excited. "D'you think?"

"How many people want to go to the moon?" Marie asked rhetorically, then gestured to their surroundings with a large smile. "And here we are."

"Standing in the earth light," the man finished, smiling softly at the pale woman.

She smiled back for a brief moment before focusing her eyes on the Earth before her.

"What do you think happened?" Martha asked.

The man shifted his weight, before putting his attention on Martha once again. "What do _you_ think happened?"

"Extraterrestrial. It's got to be." Martha replied without pause. "I dunno, few years ago, that would've sounded mad, but these days... that spaceship flying into Big Ben. Christmas. And those Cybermen things, that battle in the sky... I had a cousin, Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. Never came home."

The mad man glanced down at Marie, who was staring up at him (the height difference between the two was almost laughable) with an unreadable expression in her eyes. He put his eyes back on Martha after a few moments.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Marie herself had received too much sympathy after Adeola's death, and they weren't even blood related. They were friends, yes, but she was closer to Martha. Marie could only imagine how irritating the comments grew to be to Martha, and so the blue eyed girl didn't comment on her friend's short answer.

The mad man stared at Martha again, his expression pained. "I was there. In the battle. It was…"

Marie frowned, looking at him closer. He was unlike anybody she had ever met before. Yes, he was strange and basically a walking, talking dictionary definition of a mad man, but he was more than that. His face held the expression of unbearable pain, yet here he was, on the moon and completely ecstatic about it. Any other normal civilian would have been freaking out, but he was acting as though this was every day for him. _All of this information_, Marie thought wryly_, and I still don't even know his name_.

"I promise you, Mr. Smith, we'll find a way out. If we can travel to the Moon, then we can travel back, there's got to be a way." Martha said suddenly, "Besides, Marie's basically a genius. If anyone can figure out a way home, then it's her."

Marie smiled at the compliment before she realized that she had heard the mad man's name for the first time. "No," she said, at the same time the mad man said, "It's not Smith, that's not my real name."

He looked at her, a hint of amusement in his eyes, but a serious expression on his face. "No?"

"No," Marie repeated, "You're not normal enough to have a name like Mr. Smith. Especially not when I've been calling you Mad Man in my head this whole time."

He raised an eyebrow, looking at her interestedly. "Mad man? Marie Morgan, that is the most apt description of me that there is. You must be smarter than Martha says you are."

"You're not doing a good job of convincing us to trust you, mad man." Marie stated.

"Oh, you trust me alright. I can see it in your eyes. Both of you."

Marie and Martha exchanged glances. "Then who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor." The way he said it sounded nonchalant, but his body language said otherwise. He was proud of his title – and Marie didn't blame him, getting a doctorate wasn't easy – and just a little cocky.

"Me too, if I ever pass my exams," Martha scoffed, "What is it then, Dr. Smith?"

"Just the Doctor."

Marie frowned. This man was just getting madder and madder by the second. "So people just call you 'the Doctor'?" the short, pale woman asked.

"Yep." He dragged out the word, as if it was a question he got a lot. In all fairness, it probably was, with a name like the Doctor.

"Well, I'm not," Martha stated adamantly, "As far as I'm concerned, you have to earn that title."

"I'd better make a start then…" the Doctor muttered, crouching down and picking up a pebble. "Let's have a look. There must be some sort of..." his voice trailed off as he threw the pebble out onto the moon's surface, not even bothering to act surprised as a sort of force field appeared, shimmering blue where the rock hit, then disappearing, "Force field. Keeping the air in."

Marie frowned. "Okay, so we already know that it's air tight. Do you think there's some sort of life support system that recycles the air? Or are we stuck with what we have?"

The Doctor, in his element now, replied to her errantly. "No, no, it's far too simple of a force field for that. How many people in this hospital?"

"I dunno, a thousand?" Martha supplied.

"One thousand people. Suffocating." The Doctor's face turned dark. Marie eyed his sudden change in demeanor with interest. This man was just one extreme emotion after another.

"Why would anyone do that?" The young engineer asked out loud, not expecting any straight answer.

A loud _whoosh_ sounded above them, and the three looked up to see three metal, tube-like space ships descending upon the moon's surface. Marie's mouth dropped wide open. The Doctor from this morning was right. This was an all around mad day. Although, that Doctor simply _had_ to have been from the future, so she knew at least he made it out safely. Maybe, if they were lucky, everyone would make it out safely.

"Well, now you can ask them yourself, Marie Morgan." The Doctor replied somewhat cheekily. Marie wondered just how often he had to be around potential danger like this to be so blasé about it all.

Before Marie could begin to scold the Doctor, a door slid open on the nearest tube, revealing a ramp sliding down and figures walking down it in a military-like fashion. She could hear Martha gasp in surprise next to her, but Marie didn't look away from the marching figures in the distance. They were about half a mile away, and she certainly didn't want to miss out on seeing them as soon as she could.

"Aliens. That's... aliens. Real, proper aliens." Martha seemed to be in a state of shock, and honestly, Marie couldn't really blame her. In fact, she was one more major crisis away from a meltdown, and was simply running on adrenaline to keep her from having a panic attack in the middle of a possible alien incursion.

"Judoon." The Doctor stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

At this, Marie turned around and faced the man. He seemed to know a little too much about this whole situation, and was obviously involved in some sort of time travel. Nothing about him was normal at all, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it. The Doctor's eyes met hers in a challenging way, almost daring her to figure him out.

"We need to hide," Marie said, breaking the staring between herself and the Doctor. "I want to be there when those Judoon go inside, but we should be out of sight."

"There's a second floor in the front room. If we hide between some plants or something, then we should be able to watch without being seen." Martha supplied.

The Doctor pouted, the action making him look ten years younger than his 30-something appearance. "I usually decide what to do."

Marie rolled her eyes. "You strike me as the sort of man who wouldn't make plans at all. And I'm getting the strange feeling that we should possibly be careful with this, yeah?"

The Doctor muttered something under his breath before stepping back inside and turning in the nearest corridor.

"Wrong way," Marie called, following Martha to the front room, not waiting for the Doctor to catch up.

"I knew it was the wrong way," The Doctor said once he was walking behind the two women.

"Oh, and I suppose you were just testing us?" Marie asked, the sarcasm practically oozing off of her. However, the Doctor appeared to be incredibly thick in that way, because he simply nodded seriously.

"Exactly."

The pale, black haired woman wasn't so sure she had ever rolled her eyes more at a single person in such a short amount of time within knowing them.

Silence passed between the three as Martha led them up a flight of stairs and took a spot behind some potted plants, waiting for the Judoon to stroll in. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long. Marie wasn't sure her daily anxiety medication would hold up if she had to wait.

Martha grabbed her hand in support, seemingly understanding where her mind was at the moment. A small smile fell upon Marie's lips, a silent 'I'm okay'. If the Doctor noticed the exchange, he didn't say anything.

Within a few moments, the Judoon marched into the foyer with a military-like stance. They were brutish and thickset creatures, but also dressed for heavy combat – something Marie didn't like immediately, because a hospital was never a place for combat – in armor that resembled that of a Roman centurion from the waist down and a thick, heavy chest plate with multiple studs. The helmet was the strangest part so far, jutting out far and connecting to the neck and chest oddly.

A Judoon bigger than the rest began to step forward and twist at a clasp in the neck piece of the helmet. A loud hiss quieted the room that was previously begging for their life as the leader removed his helmet to reveal the face of a rhino.

_Well, that explains the strange helmets,_ Marie thought feebly, incredibly intimidated by the Judoon. She found herself shrinking and making her body smaller, and nearly jumped out of her skin at the feeling of an unfamiliar touch on her upper back. She turned, attempting to keep her silence as to not give out their position to the Judoon, meeting the Doctor's understanding eyes. It was a message to keep calm and to stay brave, but Marie was having trouble with that last part. She nodded to the Doctor in thanks, and he removed his hand.

"Bo! Sco! Fo! Do! No! Kro! Blo! Co! Sho! Ro!" The Judoon Captain (she assumed) grunted, startling Marie even further. The Judoon soldiers behind the Captain raised their weapons threateningly, pointing them at no one person in particular. Marie wasn't worried. No soldier would simply shoot unarmed and innocent people, even if they were alien soldiers. At least, she hoped.

A medical student that Marie didn't recognize bravely stepped up to face the Judoon. "Um. We are citizens of Planet Earth. We welcome you in peace…"

Marie silently commended the man (even though his actions were very idiotic), and winced when the Judoon Captain slammed him against the wall. People shouted, cowering in fear and hugging the nearest person for support. The alien grabbed a bright white torch and began to shine it over the man's throat.

"No, don't hurt me, I was trying to help. I'm sorry, don't hurt me, please don't hurt me…" He stammered, and Marie instantly lost her respect for the stranger at the stuttering mess the man became.

The Judoon captain pressed a button on the strange torch and the stammering man's voice was being played back. _"No, don't hurt me, I was trying to help. I'm sorry, don't hurt me, please don't hurt me…" _

Then, the alien promptly inserted the torch into his uniform and shuddered, as if going through a transformation. Marie frowned, and met the Doctor's eyes. Hers showed confusion, his a deathly calm.

"Language assimilated. Designation: Earth English. You will be catalogued." The Judoon's voice, even though he was speaking English, was still almost too gruff and warbled to understand. But… 'catalogued', that had to be a good sign, yeah? Marie shifted uneasily.

The Captain held up a smaller, second device, and waved it in front of the still shaking man. A few quick noises were made and a light flashed briefly, but it appeared to be harmless. "Category: human." So the device was to only identify species… And the student wasn't killed, so being human must be good in this situation. But what of the Doctor? Was he even human? Was he safe?

An X was drawn on the hand of the student to signify that he had been checked, and then the Captain spoke again. "Catalogue all suspects!"

The soldiers wasted no time in marching over to all of the civilians in the lounge and shining the same light in front of them, not noticing or not caring that everybody was shrinking back in fear.

"Look, down there. You've got a little shop." The Doctor pointed out with glee, making Marie turn to him with an incredulous look in her eyes. "I like a little shop," he explained, as though that would solve everything.

"Seriously?" Marie asked. The Doctor shrugged, a smile still on his face.

"Never mind that, what are the Judoon?" Martha waved off the Doctor's child-like amusement and Marie's less than amused reaction.

The Doctor turned somewhat serious once more. "They're like police. Well, police-for-hire, more like interplanetary thugs."

"I'm assuming they're the ones that brought us here." Marie said, looking to the Doctor for confirmation.

He nodded once. "Neutral territory," the Doctor explained, "According to Galactic Law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth. So they isolated us. That rain, and the lightning, that was them, using an H2O Scoop."

And there it was. Marie's confirmation that the Doctor wasn't at all human. Not that she really needed verbal confirmation, just the way the man acted screamed 'alien'.

"What are you on about, Galactic Law? Where d'you get that from?" Martha wasn't by any means stupid, and so Marie almost felt pity for her best friend. She had to have picked it up by now, she was probably just in denial. The Doctor shifted about, obviously avoiding her question. "If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the Moon or something?" Martha persisted.

The Doctor smiled. "No, but I like that! Good thinking. Wish it was that simple. If they're making a catalogue, that means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me."

"Why?" Martha asked, confused. The Doctor just raised an eyebrow. Marie remained silent.

"… No," Martha breathed in shock. The Doctor continued to stare at her. "Don't be ridiculous," she tried, but only succeeded in making Marie give her the same look the Doctor was giving her. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"Come on then," the Doctor said, taking a hold of Marie's hand automatically – the pale skinned engineer assumed it was only because she was the closest to him – and tugging her to the stairs. Martha stared at the two for a moment longer before she followed.

"Doctor," Marie said, making the Doctor turn his head to look at her briefly. "Is it you the Judoon are looking for?"

Instead of answering, he pulled her into an open room, containing a computer that gave off the only source of light in the small area. Before Marie could repeat her question, he pulled out a strange looking device and began waving it all over the computer and making a considerable amount of noise. Martha jogged into the room then, slightly out of breath.

"They've reached the third floor," she informed them, then gestured towards his device, "What's that?"

"Sonic screwdriver," he replied without looking up from his work.

Martha crossed her arms, put out. "Well, if you're not gonna answer me properly."

He pouted, turning to her and stopping his work on the computer. Once again, he appeared about ten years younger when he pouted. Marie would have giggled at his innocent expression if it weren't for the fact that he had avoided her question like the plague and that worried her.

"It is! It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic, look!" The Doctor protested.

"What else have you got, a laser spanner?" Marie muttered under her breath, not expecting a response.

"I did, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman," the Doctor replied, making Marie smile. She hadn't realized the complete implications of him being a time traveler (which he obviously was). He had probably met all of the greatest people in all of history, past and future. Although, that must get confusing at one point. If you can travel in time, then when is the past, and when is the future? When is the present, and how can you tell? Marie frowned at the headache she would inevitably give herself questioning time travel when she was meant to simply be an engineer.

The Doctor slammed his hand down on the computer in frustration when it locked him out and showed him some sort of symbols in red, probably a firewall. "What's _wrong_ with this computer? The Judoon must have locked it down…"

He breathed out heavily now, running his fingers through his hair. "Judoon platoon upon the moon," he muttered. "Cos, I was just travelling past, I swear, I was just wandering. I wasn't looking for trouble, honestly, I wasn't." He said this as if he was mostly trying to convince himself, making Marie frown again. This man certainly was a mystery. And possibly a danger… But somehow, the pale woman sincerely doubted it.

"But I noticed plasma coils around the Hospital – like, that lightning, that's a plasma coil, it's been building up for two days now – so I checked in, I thought something was going on inside. Turns out, the plasma coils were the Judoon, up above."

_I wonder if he just enjoys the sound of his own voice_, Marie thought, staring at the man with a raised eyebrow.

"But what are they looking for?" Martha asked.

"Something that looks human, but isn't." The Doctor replied.

"Like you, apparently." The medical student rolled her eyes, still not believing the man. Marie wondered why she was still in denial when the evidence was right in front of her.

The Doctor looked to Marie now, his brown eyes not wavering. "Like me, but not me."

Marie relaxed some, even though she wasn't really worried in the first place. She trusted the Doctor already, even if he was a mad man with an extraordinarily tight suit (_seriously, how could he breathe in that thing?_) and strange screwdriver.

"And they don't have a photo?" She asked, tugging on a piece of her long, thick black hair.

"Might be a shape-changer," the Doctor shrugged.

"Well, whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to handle it?" Martha asked impatiently. Marie placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, knowing she was stressing about being responsible for the safety of an entire hospital. Even though nobody had asked her to, and nobody had expected her to, she immediately took full responsibility for everything that went wrong in her life. Marie loved the girl's selflessness, but she also knew how badly it stressed her out sometimes.

"If the Judoon believe that the hospital is guilty of harboring a fugitive, they'll sentence them to execution." The Doctor sure did know how to lighten a mood.

"All of us?" Marie asked, her mouth suddenly dry. All of those people, dead, because the Judoon blamed them for a crime they didn't knowingly commit. They were afraid, and most likely only wanted to get home. She hoped that everyone was okay, but somehow didn't quite believe it.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor nodded, then growled at the computer again as he was tried to scan it once more, "Oh d'you see?! They're thick! Judoon are thick, they're so completely thick, they've wipe the records! That's clever!"

"What are we looking for?" Marie asked. There had to be some form of physical records, it was illegal and not to mention very stupid to only have one form of records on hand, especially in a hospital.

"I don't know, say, any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms," he responded, his sonic screwdriver continuing to make a strange noise as he scanned the computer in hopes to get the files back, "Maybe there's a back-up..."

"You keep working, I'll go ask Mr. Stoker. He might know." Martha instructed, looking over at her best friend. "Marie, you coming?"

The pale woman shook her head. "I may not be a computer technician, but I am an engineer. I'll be of more use here."

Martha nodded once. "Alright. Be careful,"

"You as well." Marie said shortly, turning away from her and pulling a chair next to the Doctor to observe his work, racking her brain to try to think of a way to retrieve the files.

"So, you're an engineer." The Doctor said casually, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Is now the time to be making small talk?" She asked incredulously, frowning.

The man shrugged. "Just trying to diffuse the tension," he quipped.

"There is no tension."

The Doctor frowned. "Oh, right, yes. That book hasn't come out yet."

"I'm sorry?" Marie asked.

"_Harry Potter_ book seven," he replied, as if it was no big deal.

"Oh my god. Don't spoil anything, but is it good?" _Harry Potter_ was easily one of Marie's favorite book series of all time.

The Doctor shook his head, clicking his teeth together. "Oh, I cried."

Marie groaned. "I can't wait to read it…"

An easy silence fell between the two of them, only disturbed by the whirring of his sonic screwdriver.

"Doctor?" Marie asked a few moments later, shifting uneasily in her seat.

"Mm?"

"Are you safe?"

The Doctor focused his eyes on the blue-eyed woman fidgeting beside him for a long moment before answering. "There's no point in lying to you, is there?"

"No."

He sighed. "If I can stay away from the Judoon until they find the actual criminal and ensure that they don't blame the hospital for hiding them, then yes, I'm safe."

Marie nodded, knowing that there wasn't anything she could do about saving him from the Judoon. "You met me before, though. I know you get out of this alive."

This time, the Doctor kept his eyes on the computer screen. "Time is in flux all around us. If I end up dying here, you would lose the memory of ever meeting me before you saw me in the hospital."

"Like _Back to the Future_?" Marie asked, trying to lighten the mood.

The Doctor cracked a small smile. "Yes, just like _Back to the Future_."

The silence that followed was no longer awkwardly filled with worry and anxiety. Instead, it was more lighthearted and easy, as Marie knew the Doctor just a little better than she had before, and the Doctor was more comfortable with a human being able to somewhat keep up with him.

"So, uh, forgive me if I sound stupid, but when my computer isn't working at home, I always turn it off and turn it back on again, and it works like a charm." Marie said, causing the Doctor to stop sonicing the computer and stare at her.

"Marie Morgan, if this works, I could bloody kiss you."

"Doctor, I would rather you didn't."

He grinned, not at all bothered by her rejection of him, and turned off the computer, waiting for it to turn off fully before restarting it. Within a few moments, the computer hummed back to life, normal once again.

"Well," the Doctor coughed awkwardly, "I just spent about ten minutes sonicing this computer when I could have just tried the universe's simplest solution."

Marie shrugged. "Sometimes, you need to slow down and take the human approach. Not everything has to be complicated."

The Doctor stared at her once again, brown eyes meeting blue. He rather liked her.

"Come on, then. We should probably find Martha so she could help us out." Marie said, pulling the Doctor out of his chair and running out of the room only to come face to face with the woman herself.

"Marie restored the back up!" The Doctor cheered.

"I found her," Martha replied, eyes wide and breathing heavy.

"You did what?" The Doctor frowned.

A door suddenly went flying off of the hinges, and two men decked out in completely leather motorbike gear stepped out, heading in their general direction.

"Run!" The Doctor commanded, grabbing Marie's hand, and Marie grabbed Martha's as the three broke into a full sprint in the opposite direction, leaping over people and avoiding main hallways. The three drop their hands and made their way into the nearest stairwell corridor, screeching to a halt after they got down one flight and noticed Judoon coming their way, exiting into the hall and running like mad.

Corridors seemed twice as long as Marie originally thought they were, and she found herself wondering just how big this hospital really was as the three turned another corner. She didn't dare slow down though, as she could hear the angry footsteps of the motorbike men not too far behind them.

The three people ran even faster than before, twisting their way through many different corridors before the Doctor grabbed Martha and Marie's hands and yanked them into an x-ray room, closing the door and sonicing it shut. Marie hoped it would hold for a while, but she didn't really think so.

The Doctor wasted no time in shoving the two women into the staff area roughly and grabbing hold of the x-ray machine. "When I say now, press the button," he commanded.

"I don't know which one it is!" Martha exclaimed, looking around the panel filled with multiple different buttons. Marie looked around the room quickly for some sort of manual.

"Then find out!" The Doctor shouted.

"I'm trying, do _not _yell at me!" Marie screamed back, flipping through the pages of a book.

"I wouldn't be _yelling_ if you would hurry up!" The Doctor shouted back as he shoved his sonic screwdriver into the x-ray machine, holding it in front of his chest like a gun as the door rattled with a resounding _boom!_

The motorbike men were relentless in their attack on the door, and somehow it paid off for them as the door busted open and they charged towards the Doctor.

"Now!" The Doctor exclaimed, prompting Marie to drop the book and slam her hand down on the biggest red button on the panel. Apparently, it worked, because the leather men began to tremble and shake before they fell to the ground, presumably dead.

Marie and Martha looked over at each other, paralyzed with shock, jaws agape and eyes wide.

"What the bloody hell did you just do?" Marie breathed, staring at the Doctor in awe.

"Increased the radiation by 5000%. Killed them dead." He replied, acting surprisingly nonchalant after what he just said and did.

"But… wouldn't that kill you too?" Martha asked, dumbfounded.

"Nah, it's only Rontgen radiation. We used to play with Rontgen bricks in the nursery," After noticing Marie and Martha standing still in the safe room, he added, "It's safe for you to come out, I've absorbed it all."

The two best friends stepped out slowly as the Doctor began to do some strange sort of twitching dance. Marie raised her eyebrows at his strange behavior.

"All I need to do is expel it. If I concentrate and shift the radiation out of my body and into one spot - say, my left shoe…" The Doctor began hopping on his right foot, his face scrunched in pain. "Ah! Ah! Ah! Itches, itches, inches! It is _hot_!"

He yanked off his shoe and sock, tossing it into a yellow waste bin and then letting out a breath of relief. "Done!" He said happily.

"You're completely mad," Martha stared in shock while Marie grinned widely.

The Doctor considered her statement for a moment before responding, "You're right, I look daft with one shoe." Before Martha could inform him that that wasn't at all what she meant, he took off his other shoe and sock and tossed it into the same waste bin and tapping his bare feet on the floor excitedly.

"Barefoot on the moon!" He exclaimed.

Marie couldn't help the laugh that escaped her pale pink lips. "Oh, I like you."

The Doctor winked cheekily and clicked his teeth together. Martha focused her gaze on the leather people dead on the floor.

"So where is that thing from, the planet Zovirax?" She asked rhetorically.

The Doctor kneeled down on the floor next to one, examining it. "Just a Slab, they're called Slabs. Basic slave drones, you see?" He squeezed its arm. "Solid leather all the way through."

"Someone's got one hell of a fetish," Marie responded, making the Doctor wrinkle his nose in distaste before he stood up and examined the x-ray machine.

"But it was the woman, Miss Finnegan. They were working for her." Martha explained.

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of the machine, frowning when sparks came out and the tip was completely burnt. "My sonic screwdriver," he said pathetically.

"She was one of the patients, but... Mr. Stoker, she killed him…" Martha continued, hoping the Doctor would stop his whining.

"It burnt out my sonic screwdriver!" He protested, a pout on his face. Marie giggled at the childish look.

"Honestly, you look like a child whose toy was just broken by their older sibling." She commented, making the Doctor look over at her with a sad frown, holding up his sonic.

"She had this straw, like some sort of vampire," Martha explained, ignoring Marie's commentary on the Doctor.

"I love my sonic screwdriver!" The Doctor said sadly, gazing longingly at the burnt out tube.

"Doctor!" Martha exclaimed, finally fed up with his moping.

"Sorry," he snapped out of his sad state, tossing the burnt screwdriver over his shoulder as if it didn't even matter to him anymore before beaming at Martha. "You called me Doctor," he noticed.

"Anyway! Miss Finnegan is the alien, she was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood."

"I'm sorry, but does anybody else see the irony in that?" Marie intervened, but was promptly ignored.

"Funny time to take a snack, you'd think she'd be hiding, unless... No! Yes! That's it! Wait a minute... Yes! Shape-changer, internal shape-changer! She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it!" The Doctor exclaimed, almost with glee at figuring it out despite the grimness of the situation, "If she can assimilate Mr. Stoker's blood, she can mimic the biology. She'll register as Human! We've got to find her, and show the Judoon! Come on!"

He grabbed Marie's hand and Marie grabbed Martha's, just like last time, and ran out of the room with a newfound energy. They ran for a little while longer, before coming to a halt when they noticed two Slabs coming their way. The Doctor led the two behind a trolley where they watched and waiting for the aliens to pass a good amount of distance away.

"That's the thing about Slabs, they always travel in pairs," the Doctor muttered.

"What about you?" Martha wondered, making the Doctor turn his head towards her in confusion.

"What about me what?"

"Haven't you got a partner? You must have some sort of back-up…" Martha said, and although the Doctor scoffed in dismissal, Marie could see in his eyes that she had unintentionally struck a nerve.

"Humans! We're stuck on the Moon, running out of air, with a blood-sucking criminal, and you're asking personal questions. Come on!" He stood up slowly, the two women following him just a beat behind.

"Oh, I like that, 'humans'! I'm still not convinced you're an alien." Martha replied with an eye roll, standing up to see a Judoon waving the indentifying light in front of the Doctor with two more soldiers behind him, guns at the ready, causing Marie's heart to skip a beat in fear.

The Judoon's device made a high pitched whirring sound as the rhino-like alien growled out, "Non human!"

"Oh my god, you really are!" Martha breathed out in shock.

The Doctor grabbed Martha and Marie's hands and began to take off. "And again!"

The three were dodging the laser beams from the Judoon's guns, and Marie couldn't help but think in exasperation about how mad this day really was. And explosion shook the end of the corridor that the group had just passed, thankful that the Judoon were slow and lumbering beasts and they were much quicker than their soon-to-be executioners. However, Marie severely doubted that the Doctor would just let herself or Martha get shot or caught by the Judoon.

After running up another flight of stairs and through another door, the Doctor closed and soniced the door shut before running again, Marie and Martha close behind. Luckily, they made it through to a corridor with people laying on the floor and leaning against walls with oxygen masks around their faces and x's on their hands, and no sign of the Judoon.

"They've done this floor, come on," the Doctor said, impatient to get further away from the Judoon. But Martha stopped, her medical instinct kicking in as she kneeled next to Julia Swales, who was helping an old man with his oxygen mask. Marie's felt a pang of guilt as she realized just how dangerous this situation was, and here she was laughing with the Doctor just a few moments ago and actually somewhat enjoying the company of her best friend and a man who was becoming a very good friend.

"How much oxygen is left?" Martha asked her fellow medical student, placing a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. Marie's expression turned somber as she looked around at the rest of the people, some sharing oxygen masks and some simply giving theirs up for women, children, and older people. She was thankful that the adrenaline running through her body was keeping her from noticing her lack of oxygen, and that she had been taking runs every morning since she was a teenager.

"Not enough for all of these people. We're gonna run out," Swales responded thickly, clearly on the verge of crying and suffering the effects of low oxygen, but still helping people. Marie hoped that the woman would make it out of this okay. Even though the two weren't getting along well earlier, Marie hadn't failed to notice her bravery and selflessness now, and silently commended her.

"How do you two feel, are you alright?" The Doctor asked, concerned for his two new friends.

Marie nodded, not wanting and not trusting herself to speak, and Martha looked up at him and gave him a small smile.

"I'm running on adrenaline."

"Welcome to my world," the Doctor commented with a grin.

"What about the Judoon?" Marie asked, trying to keep the Doctor on task so they could hopefully figure out a way to get back to Earth before all of these people died.

"Great big lung reserves, not gonna slow them down," he replied, then turned to Martha, "Where's Mr. Stoker's office?"

"This way," Martha pointed before taking off into a run towards her former boss's office.

They busted into the door quickly, looking around in disappointment when the alien, Miss Finnegan, was missing.

"She's gone, she was here…" Martha said despondently, her shoulders sagging in defeat.

The three moved to examine Mr. Stoker's grey, lifeless body. His eyes were wide in shock, but his suit was pristine and clean, only a pinprick of blood on his neck marring his clean body. Marie swallowed, standing to move away and shutting her eyes, refusing to let tears escape.

"Drained him dry," the Doctor explained, "I was right, she's a Plasmavore."

"What's she doing on Earth?" Martha asked.

"Hiding, on the run, like Ronald Biggs and Rio de Janerio. But what's she doing now? She's still not safe, the Judoon could execute us all… Come on," he said, grabbing Marie's hand and looking at her for a moment, squeezing her hand in a silent comfort before running out of the room.

"Wait," Martha called, causing the two to turn around and watch as she gently shut Mr. Stoker's eyes and faced the Doctor and Marie with a solemn expression.

The group ran out after a beat of silence in respect, the Doctor thinking aloud as he ran. "Think, think, think. If I was a Plasmavore surrounded by the police, what would I…?" He stopped abruptly, still holding onto Marie's hand, Martha almost running into the two but stopping just in time.

"Oh," he breathed out, staring at the sign at the far end of the corridor that pointed out the MRI scanner, "She's as clever as me. Almost."

A loud crash sounded from a short distance away before Marie or Martha could question the Doctor on what he meant, and then a familiar growl said, "Find the non human! Execute!"

"They certainly like executions, don't they?" Marie asked feebly, trying to make a joke but her voice just coming out weak and sad. The Doctor looked at her, almost as if debating something, but squeezed her hand and held on even tighter as he looked at Martha.

"Martha, I need time. Stay here, you've got to hold them up," the Doctor said quickly.

"What about Marie?" She asked, frowning as she looked at her shaking best friend.

"I need her help for this. Please, just do as I say," the Doctor replied impatiently, and Martha nodded, determined.

"What do I do?"

"Just forgive me for this. It could save thousands of lives. It means nothing. Honestly, nothing." He said, grabbing Martha's face with his free hand and licking her cheek. Martha pushed him away, disgusted, but he simply used the momentum to begin running.

"Take care of my best friend!" Martha shouted after him, but the Doctor didn't respond.

"Why the bloody hell did you lick her?" Marie asked, her fear pushed to the back of her mind, determined to help the Doctor in any way that she could.

"I just bought us five minutes at least, and believe me, it will all make sense later if everything goes according to plan!"

"You don't have a plan!" Marie stated, beginning to struggle to keep up with his quick pace, her anxiety coming to eat at her full force.

"No, but it's a thing, and it is by far better than an actual plan!" The Doctor stopped running right outside of the door labeled MRI room, facing her with a serious look on his face. "Do you trust me?"

"Absolutely," Marie replied with a nod, squeezing his hand with conviction despite her fear and her oxygen failing her.

The Doctor squeezed back before barging into the room, stopping and looking at an older woman at the control panel of the MRI. Slabs looked up to them, tensing for a fight. The Doctor's face showed fright and confusion, and Marie automatically adjusted her face to match his. She could do this. After all, she was the best actress in her school's drama department.

"Have you seen?!" The Doctor's voice was strange and oddly human-like, and Marie found herself not liking it at all. "There are these things, these great big space rhino things. I mean, rhinos from space, and we're on the Moon! Big space rhinos, with guns! On the Moon! I only came in for my bunions, look!" He flashed the older woman his bare feet, who Marie could only assume was Miss Finnegan from the unamused and evil glint in her eyes.

"I mean, all fixed now, perfectly good treatment, and the nurses were lovely. I said to my wife, this beautiful woman right here, I'd recommend this place to anyone, but then we end up on the Moon! And did I mention the rhinos?!" The Doctor continued, removing his hand from Marie's and wrapping it around her waist and pulling her close to him.

"I swear, this day has been madder than the day I agreed to marry this fool!" Marie added, wrapping her arm around his waist also, her voice high pitched, but convincing.

Florence rolled at her eyes at the two. "Hold them," she ordered the two Slabs, who immediately obeyed her.

"Um, that big metal thing…" The Doctor began, pretending not to know the name and turning to Marie for support.

"An MRI, dear."

"Yes, an MRI. My wife's a genius, you see, she's an engineer and an absolute computer whiz!" The Doctor exclaimed, beaming at Marie, who rolled her eyes back.

"I'm not a computer whiz, dear, you just don't know how to use a computer properly." Marie reminded him, in character but still teasing him from the incident earlier with the computer files.

"Yes, yes," he replied, waving her off as best as he could with the Slab holding him tightly. "But the MRI, is it supposed to be making that noise?"

"You wouldn't understand." Florence stated shortly, continuing her work.

"But doesn't MRI stand for Magnetic Resonance Imaging? It's basically a giant magnet, right?" The Doctor persisted.

Marie struggled beside him for air, trying desperately to keep herself conscious in case the Doctor needed her. "I had to do a Magnetics GCSE for my Engineering degree," Marie commented in a wistful tone, adding more credibility to the lie.

"A giant magnets whose settings I have just increased to 50,000 tesla." Florence commented smugly, Marie's eyes going wide despite her having to try harder and harder to breathe.

"That's… unnecessarily strong." Marie said, eyeing the crackling MRI.

"It'll send out a magnetic pulse that should fry the brainstem of any living thing within two hundred and fifty thousand miles. Except for me. Safe within this room." The Plasmavore gloated, finishing her work.

"But, hang on, I did a Geography GCSE. Well, I failed it, but all the same. Doesn't that distance include the Earth?" The Doctor asking, cocking his head to the side.

"Only the side facing the moon. The other half will survive. Call it my little gift," Florence said, smiling thinly. Marie kept up her act, but on the inside, she hated the woman for being so blasé about murdering half of the Earth's population.

"But... you'll have to excuse me, I'm a bit out of my depth, I've spent the past fifteen years working as a postman, hence the bunion, why would you do that?" The Doctor frowned, looking over at Marie when he noticed her breaths getting dangerously shallow.

"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships are mine, to make my escape." The woman was just so goddamn smug. The only thing keeping Marie from passing out was her need to see the Doctor turn her in to the Judoon.

"Well, that's strange," Marie commented, "You're taking as if you're some sort of an alien."

"Quite so, smart one." The Plasmavore stated, a smile seemingly permanently etched onto her wrinkled face.

"No!" The Doctor breathed out in mock shock.

"Oh, yes."

Marie wrinkled her nose. Only the Doctor should say that. It sounded wrong out of somebody else's mouth. And it wasn't even a little strange that Marie had already given the Doctor a catch phrase after knowing the Doctor for not even a full day. She supposed danger really brought people together.

"You're joshing me," Marie giggled, the lack of oxygen making her dizzy.

"I am not."

"I'm talking to an alien in a hospital? What, has the place got an E.T department?" The Doctor wondered out loud.

_It might as well_, Marie thought wryly, _what with as many aliens as there are here, and one of them is a bloody time traveler._

"It's the perfect hiding place. Blood banks downstairs, for a midnight feast. And all this equipment, ready to arm myself, if the police should come looking."

"So, those rhinos, they're looking for you?" Marie asked, not enjoying her act at all. She could already tell she was going to pass out fairly soon, and then die if she couldn't get to some air quickly enough, and she certainly didn't want to spend her last moments pretending to be completely clueless.

Florence held up her hand, marked clearly with a black x. "Yes, but I'm hidden."

"Oh, right, maybe that's why they're increasing their scans." The Doctor said nonchalantly.

Marie didn't at all understand what the Doctor was playing at here, but she had a feeling this was where the brilliant part of his plan came in.

"What?" Florence asked sharply.

"Mm, big Chief Rhino Boy said we must increase our scans to setting two." Marie nodded, going along with the Doctor's idea, her voice trailing off towards the end and becoming increasingly more breathy. The Doctor's eyes flashed to hers in concern.

"Then I must assimilate again," Florence announced, looking between the two.

"What does that mean?" The Doctor asked.

"I must appear to be human," she replied, digging through a small handbag.

"Well, you're very welcome to come home when this whole mess is over! My husband simply adores my home made cakes." Marie said, voice a growing weaker and weaker every moment. She wondered dimly how she wasn't passed out by now. She could barely feel the tight grip of the Slab on her hands anymore as it was.

"Why would I have cake? I have my little straw." The Plasmavore grinned, pulling out a straw from her handbag. Marie barely remembered Martha telling her and the Doctor that she drank from Mr. Stoker out of a straw and felt her heart speed up a little, eating at more of the oxygen she didn't have to waste at the idea that she was going to drink from one of them.

Of course, the Doctor wouldn't let Florence drink from her, and… Oh. Marie understood now. The Doctor really was brilliant.

"That's nice," The Doctor commented, feigning obliviousness. "Milkshake? I like banana."

The alien walked closer to him, and Marie struggled weakly against the Slab's hold.

"Quite the funny man. And yet, I think, laughing on purpose. At the darkness. I think it's time you found some peace." Florence noticed his eyes flick over to Marie, who was barely holding on to consciousness. "Don't worry, I won't drink from your pretty little thing. Her blood is far too under oxygenated to be tasty. You'll do nicely. Slab, steady him."

Marie looked over at the Doctor, mouthing the words_ I'm sorry _to him, and the last thing she saw was Florence press her straw to the Doctor's throat before she let out one last breath and everything went black.

* * *

><p>When Marie had woken up, a breathing machine hooked up to her and Martha hanging on to her hand as if it were a lifeline, the first thing she had done was ask about the Doctor. Martha had told her that she had walked in on the Doctor and herself dead on the floor before resuscitating the Doctor and attempting to resuscitate her before passing out, and the next thing she knew, the Doctor was walking away and they were back on Earth.<p>

At first, Marie was furious. How could the Doctor just leave after everything that had happened? There was still so much she had wanted to ask him, so much she had wanted to say, and he just left? But then, she had deflated a bit. She supposed his job was done anyway. The Judoon had left, the Plasmavore was dead, and the hospital was back on Earth. But still, Marie couldn't help but hope he would come back. She refused to believe he was the same as every other man.

But as the day dragged on, and Martha and Marie got themselves ready for Leo's birthday party, (Marie couldn't believe that after the day she had she was going to something as mundane as a birthday party) the Doctor still hadn't shown up. As Martha and Marie reached the restaurant/bar that Leo's party was at, the Doctor still hadn't shown up. When Martha had to play peacemaker between her family and Annalise, and Marie had to pretend she was okay for the sake of her best friend's family, the Doctor still hadn't shown up. In fact, Marie had basically given up all hope at around 10 PM when Annalise, Francine and Clive, Martha's mum and dad, stormed out of the building, in the middle of a heated row. Martha and Marie followed soon after.

"I will _not_ stand in there and be insulted!" Annalise shouted, crossing her arms over her fake chest.

"She didn't mean it sweetheart, she was just saying that you look healthy." Clive attempted to pacify her, sending a glare back to his ex-wife.

"No, I didn't! I said she looked orange!" Francine corrected, making Marie smirk from behind her hand.

"Clive, that woman is disrespecting me! She's never liked me!" Annalise whined, stomping her foot down. Marie was honestly surprised that her thin, twelve inch heels didn't snap. Then again, Annalise probably only weighed about 80 pounds. Marie didn't think she would be able to snap a heel if she tried.

"Oh, I can't think why, after you stole my husband!" Francine shouted back sarcastically.

Marie always liked Francine.

"I was seduced! I'm entirely innocent!" Annalise defended, turning to Clive. "Tell her, babes!"

Marie's nose wrinkled at the pet name. It really didn't fit, and Annalise honestly just looked like a twelve year old all dressed up in her mother's clothes, so calling Clive, a big, 50-something year old African-American man 'babes' was just wrong.

"And then she has a go at both Marie _and _Martha, practically accusing them of making the whole thing up!" Francine continued, ignoring Annalise.

"Mum, I don't mind, just leave it," Martha tried to calm the situation, but Marie placed a silent hand on her shoulder, telling her that it was futile at this point. Martha just sighed, knowing she was right.

"Oh, 'I've been to the Moon!' As if! They were drugged, it said so on the news!" Annalise said. Now, usually Marie would stay out of fights, but Annalise claiming that they were liars crossed the line. That would make the Doctor not real, and Marie knew that he was. He had to be.

"Oh, please. Since when do you watch the news? You can't handle _Quizmania_!" Marie snapped, causing Francine to smile over at her and Martha to grab her hand and hold her back. Annalise would have looked murderous if she was physically capable of looking like anything other than a bleach-blonde bimbo.

"Make her apologize!" Annalise wailed, but the entire Jones family knew that nobody could force Marie Morgan to do anything she didn't want to do. Marie could faintly hear Leo and Tish arguing behind her, but she ignored it. This argument was far too exciting. And honestly, Marie needed exciting. She wasn't sure she could handle normal ever again.

"Nobody makes me do anything, Annalise." The pale, black haired woman stated icily, glaring at her.

Annalise began to storm away, stomping her heels irritatedly as Clive and Leo followed, the latter obviously torn, but still faithful to his father. Francine stalked away in the other direction, followed by Tish.

"I am never speaking to your family again! Especially not that fake tart who isn't even related to any of you!" Annalise shouted, causing Martha to hold onto her friend's arm to prevent her from getting into a bigger row with Annalise at the woman's hurtful words.

"Don't worry, Martha. I'm not going to do anything." Marie replied calmly, her eyes closed as she took deep breaths.

"Annalise, don't you dare! I'm putting my foot down! This is me, putting my foot down!" Clive yelled, stopping in place for a moment before following her.

"Dad, c'mon, let her go, we don't need her. Let's go back inside…" Leo protested, but the three walked away to Clive's shiny red convertible anyways.

"Have a nice party, Clive! Go on, cavort with your little piece, make a fool of yourself. God knows you've been doing it for twenty five years, why stop now?" Francine shouted back to her ex-husband, storming away.

"Oh Mum, don't, I asked the DJ and he's playing that song later, he's playing Popcorn, like we did when we were little, don't go..." Tish pleaded, following after her mother, leaving Martha and Marie standing outside alone, both utterly exhausted.

Martha turned to her short, pale friend. "Come on, Marie. Let's go back inside. I'm pretty hungry, and the waiters should be bringing out our food any moment now…"

But Marie's attention wasn't on her best friend. Martha noticed the large smile on her face and followed her blue eyes to the Doctor, now dressed in a different suit, with shoes and a tan trench coat, and leaning against a blue box. Marie couldn't help but grab Martha's hand and run towards him.

The two stopped, both staring at the Doctor. Marie noticed that he looked exactly like he did when she met him this morning: brown pinstriped suit, tan trench coat, red converse, gravity-defying hair, and a sloppily tied tie. She almost laughed when she remembered her thought earlier, about how he sure did like to run around everywhere in suits. She was certainly right about that.

"We went to the moon today." Martha stated, the first to break the silence.

"Bit more peaceful than down here." The Doctor pointed out dryly.

"You know, you never even told us who you were." Marie stated, crossing her arms over her chest with a smirk.

"The Doctor."

Martha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but what species? And it's not every day that I get to ask that."

"I'm a Time Lord."

Marie laughed, causing the Doctor and Martha to both look at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I just… Time Lord. Yeah, I can see that. It's not at all pompous, is it?"

The Doctor laughed along with her, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out what looked like his sonic screwdriver from before. "I just thought... Since both saved my life, and I've got a brand new sonic screwdriver which needs road-testing... You might fancy a trip."

Marie's heart began beating faster at the prospect. A trip into space? A trip into history? Oh, yes please.

"What? Into space? But... I can't. I've got exams. I've got things to do. I've got to go into town first thing and pay the rent, and I've got my family going mad…" Martha replied, completely crushing Marie's hope. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go into time and space without her best friend by her side. It just wouldn't feel right.

The Doctor looked over at Marie, who met his eyes and looked over to Martha. He nodded once, understanding. Marie felt her heart break just a little bit.

"If it helps, I can also travel in time," he offered to Martha, knowing Marie had known about this bit of information.

"… Get out of here," Martha said, still not believing. Marie giggled, her hope restored.

"I can!" The Doctor grinned.

"That's just going too far," Martha shook her head, a light smile on her face.

"I can prove it," he smirked, then opened the doors to his strange blue box. Wind suddenly picked up around the two best friends, and a strange and yet lovely sound filled the air around them as the box disappeared.

"Oh, my god," Marie breathed, slowly reaching her hand out to where the box was just a few moments ago.

The engine sound picked up again, and Marie pulled Martha back a few steps, in case they got crushed. The box rematerialized, and the Doctor stepped outside with a manic grin and his tie undone and in his hand. He held it out to Martha.

"Told you!" And then, he turned the Marie, his smile getting even bigger. "You really did have one hell of a day."

Marie laughed, remembering his words from earlier this morning for her, but only a few moments ago for him. How amazing it must be to be able to do that.

Martha frowned, putting the pieces together. "No, but... That was this morning, but... Did you just..? Oh my god, you can travel in time! But hold on, if you could see me this morning, why didn't you tell me not to go to work?! And Marie, you could have told her to stay at home, she nearly died today!"

The Doctor's face turned deathly serious. "Crossing into established timelines is extremely forbidden." Marie just raised an eyebrow at his hypocrisy until he finished, "Except for cheap tricks."

"And this box, it's your space ship?" Marie asked, touching the exterior lightly. Her eyes widened when she felt the box hum beneath her warmly, almost as if it was saying hello. Marie laughed giddily. "Hello, Doctor's spaceship!"

The Doctor turned to her incredulously. "Hang on, what?!"

Marie laughed again. "Your spaceship, she's alive."

"H-how did you…" The Doctor's voice trailed off, but his confused look was replaced by a grin. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, Marie Morgan!"

Martha, curious, placed her hand on the spaceship as well. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I do know that this spaceship is made of wood."

Marie, already enamored with the ship, turned to the Doctor eagerly. "What's her name?"

"She's called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space." The Doctor explained, a grin matching Marie's spread across his face.

Martha walked the perimeter of the TARDIS, frowning at the Doctor. "There's not a lot of room. We'd be a bit intimate."

The Doctor simply smirked, opening the door with the back of his hand, not even looking. "Go and take a look."

Marie dashed inside, stopping to stare in awe of the beautiful inside of the ship. She was huge, so, so much bigger than she appeared to be. And so much more beautiful on the inside. Marie had the feeling the TARDIS was even bigger and even more impressive than she thought when she noticed the door at the other side of the room.

The short, pale woman walked up to the center console, lightly running her fingers over her lightly, delighted when she felt the same happy hum again.

Marie dimly head Martha run in and out of the TARDIS, then all around the perimeter of the exterior, before running back inside, followed by the Doctor, who took of his coat and casually threw it over a Y shaped beam.

"Oh my god… It's bigger on the inside," Martha breathed, the Doctor mouthing the words along with her, making Marie giggle.

"Is it? I hadn't noticed!" He said sarcastically, closing the door behind her and running up to Marie, an ecstatic grin on his face. "What about you? What do you have to say?"

"I think she's absolutely gorgeous! I love her!" Marie exclaimed, causing the Doctor to laugh and stride around to the other side of the console.

"I'm glad you think so!" He said, running his fingers over the TARDIS.

"... But ... Is there a crew? Like, the navigator and stuff, where's everyone else?" Martha asked, still not understanding the whole, 'my bigger-on-the-inside spaceship is a woman and is sentient' thing, so choosing not to comment on her best friend's sudden ability to tell that a spaceship was alive.

"Just me," the Doctor replied, his grin sliding off of his face a little bit.

Marie tried to meet Martha's eyes to convince her to stop talking, knowing that if she was going to keep pressing for information she was going to hit a sore spot.

But she failed. "All on your own?" Martha frowned.

"Well, sometimes I have... guests. I mean, sort of friends, travelling alongside me. I had, there was, um, recently, friend of mine. Rose, her name was Rose, and, um.. We were together, and... anyway." The Doctor looked away from both women, fiddling with some of the odds and ends of the console. It didn't take a genius to see that the Doctor loved this Rose woman, and Marie felt bad for whatever happened to her. With the dangerous lifestyle the Doctor seemed to lead, it probably wasn't a pleasant experience, saying goodbye to the person you loved. Marie walked over to the Doctor, placing a hand on his shoulder in support. He glanced over at her, smiling his thanks before looking up at Martha.

"She's gone now, happy. With her family. She's… Not that either of you are replacing her!" He said, pointing his fingers at the two women with a mock stern glare.

"I never said we were," Martha commented casually.

"Just one trip. To say thanks, you get one trip, then back home. I'd rather be on my own." The Doctor said, attempting to be serious, but Martha was just smiling at him and glancing over at Marie as she moved away from both of them to observe a different part of the console in awe, barely paying attention to the two.

"Well, you did call Marie your wife…" Martha teased. Marie snapped her head up at this.

"Hold on, we were both under cover. It didn't mean anything. Anyways, I shouldn't have told you that if you were just going to tease him about it." Marie defended.

The Doctor grinned graciously at her, then pointed at her to Martha as if to say, '_See?_'

Martha shrugged. "And if you will wear that tight suit…"

"Now, don't," The Doctor warned.

"And then travel all across time and space to ask Marie on a date you knew she couldn't refuse…" Now Martha was being ridiculous.

"Stop it!" The Doctor groaned.

"Martha, honestly. I've known him for less than 24 hours, not to mention the fact that this isn't a date and you're here too." Marie rolled her eyes. "No offence Doctor, but I only go for humans."

"None taken! Thank you, Marie Morgan!" The Doctor cheered, and Martha physically deflated, but popped back up a second later, a sly look on her face. Marie didn't want to know what she was thinking right now. "Now, let's have a look… Close down the Gravitic Anomalyser. Fire up the Helmic Regulator. And finally... the handbrake!" The Doctor pushed buttons and pulled levers seemingly at random before turning to the two girls on either side of him. "Ready?"

"No!" Martha said, smiling.

"Absolutely!" Marie cheered.

"And off we go!" The Doctor exclaimed, slamming down a lever, causing the entire room to toss and shake. Marie laughed madly, meeting Martha's eyes with a huge grin.

"Blimey, it's a bit bumpy!" Martha laughed, following the Doctor and Marie's lead and holding onto the console tightly.

"Welcome aboard, Miss Jones!"

"Thank you very much, Mr. Smith!"

"And welcome aboard to you as well, Miss Morgan!"

"Doctor, it is an absolute honor," Marie grinned, shaking his hand and staring back at the glass tube in the center of the console in delight.

This was going to be the best trip of her life.


End file.
